Always
by SheenWinning
Summary: Former Legate Romulus, the Champion of the Imperial Legion of Skyrim, now lives life in internal self-pity after the death of his companion Lydia at the final battle in Windhelm. He now works with the Mercenary Guild, operating in Whiterun. When his guild master leaves him with a new recruit to train as a companion, will he grow to care for her, then lose her like he lost Lydia?
1. Chapter 1: The End

**So, Skyrim. This fanfiction was based off of my walkthrough of Skyrim, and what happened. Technically, I'm not really playing the main story line, I came to play in the war and anything after. So here we go. **

_It was the final battle at Windhelm; the Imperials finally had the Stormcloaks cornered. The Imperial Legions of several hundred men were being led in a frontal assault of the city by Legate Romulus, one of the Empires most notable warriors living in Skyrim. By his side was his companion, Praefect Lydia, a Nordic woman who has been by Romulus' side since the day they met. _

_The Legions were successful in breaching the walls and had beaten back Stormcloak resistance. The main resistance had been scattered through the city, so Romulus and Lydia left the soldiers to fend off any others while they went ahead to the main hall for their final confrontation with Ulfric Stormcloak, before Tullius and Rikke could arrive. _

Romulus had burst through the giant door, Lydia following close behind. At the end of the room was Ulfric Stormcloak with his second in command, Galmar Stone-Fist, along with two other guards. The two guards retaliated, drawing their swords and leaping after Romulus and Lydia. They were almost effortlessly cut down, Romulus keeping his eye trained on Ulfric when he slashed the guards neck with his perfect swordsmanship; Lydia the same, but instead shanked him through the chest.

"Ulfric Stormcloak," Romulus let out, approaching the Jarl and his second in command, "you have been charged with Treason against the Empire; surrender now and we will see to it that your execution is painless." Ulfric laughed in his low voice.

"So," Ulfric said, "you're the great Legate Romulus? The champion of the Legion of Skyrim, the Thane of Whiterun," Ulfric stood from his throne and arrogantly walked down the small steps. "All I see is a fool in Legionnaire armor." Romulus' expression darkened, and his grip on the imperial sword grew tighter. Lydia stood close by his side, her bow drawn and trained on Ulfric's head.

"I'm giving you a choice, Stormcloak, surrender or die," Romulus said, "either way, you're dead."

"And you really think Tullius would make Skyrim a better place? By getting rid of me?" Ulfric questioned, trying to play Romulus out of it.

"It would've been better than what you had planned, Stormcloak," Lydia said. Ulfric laughed again.

"You should teach your dear companion to hold her tongue," Ulfric said. Romulus disregarded it.

"And what would YOU have done?" Romulus questioned, Ulfric raising a brow. "You claim that under your rule, the Nords will gain their freedom; are you not using these people for your own personal benefit?"

"Your ignorance is most concerning to me, Romulus" Ulfric said, using his name to try to get inside his mind.

"It won't matter anymore," Romulus retaliated, "My place is with the Empire; and this negotiation is over."

Suddenly, a flaming rock from the imperial catapult fire had burst through the roof, shards of wood and flame scattering down. This divided Romulus and Lydia's attention Ulfric, unfortunately enough time for him to use an unrelenting force shout on them. The energy had thrown both of them back; Romulus was thrown onto the table, knocking over goblets and plates and fell off the side onto the floor. Lydia was thrown onto the other side of the room, so they are divided.

Romulus' blurred vision returned to normal in time to see Galmar Stone-Fist's War hammer descending on him. Romulus rolled out of the way in time and quickly got back to his feet. He had lost his shield, but his imperial sword was still in his grasp. Galmar had turned to face him and swung several times, Romulus putting a great effort to block the powerful war hammer with his small sword.

On the other side, Lydia was slowly getting up to see Ulfric strike an Iron Great sword at her. She was able to retaliate in time to block his attack with her shield; her sword was thrown to where she can't get to. Now she was desperately trying to block Ulfric's attacks with just her shield; each hit getting stronger, and her stamina depleting. One strike was able to knock the shield from her, leaving her vulnerable; luckily she was able to get to her iron sword in time to block another one of Ulfric's attacks. Their swords were grinding together, a test of who is stronger; Lydia being brought to her knee, while Ulfric towered over her. A strengthened push of Ulfric's greatsword had thrown her back, losing grip of her sword. Lydia quickly crawling back onto her feet, Ulfric swung at the unarmed companion, Lydia dodging his attack until she felt the agonizing pain in her chest.

Ulfric got the best of her, impaling her in the chest with his great sword. She let out a whimper and her last breath, before sliding out of the great swords death grip on her chest, making a thud on the ground, her eyes widened in agony. Romulus saw this at the corner of his eye.

"LYDIA!" he yelled, before his expression turned more angry and violent, and his attacks turned more aggressive on Galmar. Galmar swung his war hammer down, and to be slashed in the lower abdomen. He had dropped his hammer and bent over in despair, holding his bleeding wound, all while Romulus got behind him to make a final move. Romulus shanked his sword through Galmar's back, the tip end cutting through his stomach out the other end, and with all his might, Romulus lifted the helpless Galmar with his sword over his head and slammed his body down on the table. He pulled his sword our of the now dead Galmar, jumped on the table and leaped after Ulfric.

"Ahhhh!" Romulus yelled, as his sword struck down with full force onto Ulfric's. Romulus kept swinging his sword sporadically in different direction , until he was able to slice Ulfric's hand off, causing him to drop his sword.

"Gyahh!" Ulfric shouted in pain, holding his right arm with was now a bloody stump. Romulus didn't hesitate and he gave Ulfric the honor of his sword, by shanking him through his chest. Ulfric's eyes went wide, looking down at the blade that had impaled him, and then looking up at Romulus. Looking into his eyes, he saw that they have gone red in sadness, his eyes on the verge of tears, but his face was as angry as ever. Ulfric then knew exactly what he had just taken away from him. Romulus looked his straight in the eyes as he vigorously pulled out his sword from Ulfric's chest. Ulfric stepped back a couple steps, holding his wound before falling down dead.

Romulus forgot all about his victory over Ulfric, and dropped his bloody sword to see the now dead Lydia. He got on a knee and held Lydia's body close to him, tearing up but making no sound or facial expression. He remained like that for the next several minutes until Tullius and Rikke had entered the room to see what had happened. They were rejoiced to see Ulfric dead, but quickly left that thought when they saw Romulus holding his dead companion.

"Legate Romulus," General Tullius said, "What happened?" He didn't answer, just held Lydia closer to him.

"Romulus…" Rikke said sympathetically, but he didn't answer. He picked her body up bridal style, and carried her past Rikke and Tullius to the doors. He entered the cold atmosphere of the outside; his men were celebrating their victory over the Stormcloaks until they saw him carrying his dead companion past him. The soldiers fell silent as he stepped by them, making way for him as he slowly went by.

Hadvar, his best friend saw this when he walked by him.

"By the gods…" Hadvar said under his breath. He watched as Romulus carried her all the way out of the city, until the point that they were out of sight.

Romulus took her to a place to be buried, a place that he knew he would never see again.

_**Road near Riverwood, 2 years later**_

It was nighttime, pure darkness. The night was lit up by the blue moon, which showed a carriage being pulled down the rocky road. At least 5 men, two women, all Nord, were transporting some goods that were covered by a black blanket in the back.

"How long till we get there?" one of them groaned.

"It won't be too long now," One of the girls answered, "just keep your eye out."

"The only thing we should be worrying about is wolves," The Nord driving the carriage stated, "and Bea…." He was cut off with the sound of blooded choking. An arrow had gone through his Adams apple, and he desperately tried to get it out, to hold his throat from the bleeding. He slid off the side of the carriage and hit the ground, dead.

"Where did that come from!?" one of the others said, just before receiving an arrow through his temple, killing him immediately.

"Spread out!" one of the girls said, "Find cover!" the girl was hit in the shoulder by another arrow, causing her to stumble, and fall back against the carriage. She faintly lifted her head to see her other comrades being hit by arrows that seemed to come out of nowhere. One of her mates were still alive, he had been hit in the back by an arrow and was trying to crawl away. The dark figure of a tall man emerged from the shadows of the forest, with a bow in hand and an arrow drawn on it. The wounded Nord tried his best to crawl away from him, but to no avail. The dark figure had stepped on the wounded Nords back to hold him down, as he aimed the arrow at him. The figure shot the arrow into his neck, cutting clean through the spinal cord, killing him instantly.

The dark figure had looked at his kill before hearing the faint breathing on the wounded Nord woman that was sitting up against the carriage; hand over the wound inflicted by the arrow she had just pulled out. He approached her, putting his bow back on his back; looking at her intently. She only looked at him, as she was breathing quite heavily from loss of stamina.

His black armor gloved hand had grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up off the ground to his eye level. She winced, before opening her eyes to see who he really was. He was a hooded figure, a black mask covering his face revealing only his blue eyes. She could see his eyes squint at her in determination, or in examination.

"Stormcloak," he uttered under his breath. She glared at him in disbelief, how could he know? She wasn't wearing the armor. He threw her to the ground, the girl making a grunt and moving to hold her wound. The dark armored man had walked to the back and lifted the large blanket that had covered the back of the wagon, revealing an arsenal of exotic weapons, which were enough to give the Stormcloaks an edge.

_So, the Intel was solid. _He knew what he had to do.

The dark hooded man released the horse from the carriage and let the horse run off. Using some tricks he learned, he was able to set a torch on fire.

"The Stormcloaks will not give up!" the girl suddenly leaped at him from behind with her sword. She swung down on him only to be stopped by a strong and forceful grip of the dark armored man. He then proceeded to twist her arm to it broke, making her drop the sword and let out a cry of agony. He then kicked at her leg joint, snapping her right leg into disfigurement.

"Ahh!" she yelled, falling to the ground in pain. The dark hooded man brushed off the attack and continued to set fire to the carriage, watching it burn everything that the Stormcloaks had hoped for.

"Ulfric may be dead, but the Nords of Skyrim will have their freedom!" the girl yelled at him, still on the ground. The dark hooded figure pulled out a small red bottle from his inventory, and poured the remnants of it onto her; the girl coughing and spitting the putrid tasting stuff. He threw the bottle aside once it had been completely emptied out.

"What is that?" she asked in confusion. The dark hooded man looked off into the sky when he heard the howls of wolves, then glared back down at her.

"Wolf Bait," he said before slowly walking off into the darkness. She began to panic when she saw a pack of six hungry wolves emerge from the night and surrounded her, growling viciously. From the distance, he heard wolf barking, and the girl shrieking out in terror, along with teeth tearing apart flesh and bone and feasting on vital organs. A terrible slaughter that would send a message to the remaining Stormcloaks.

_My contract is complete_

His earlier contract on this mission read:

_Romulus  
On the subject of the Stormcloaks, the Imperials have Intel that a Stormcloak shipment of weapons will be arriving near Riverwood by the night. Military Governor Tullius has hired the Mercenary Guild to destroy this cache, much like always, so the Imperials won't have any more direct involvement in Stormcloak affairs, and focus more on the real threat in Skyrim. I am entrusting this contract to you, and I will see to it that three thousand gold will be your payment. _

_Master Milihan  
_

**So what is good with that, guys? Anything I should change? I actually didn't think that I would write Romulus' later methods to be so cruel and evil, but hey, a Stormcloak killed his companion two years ago. **


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

**Just in case anybody is wondering, this will not at all be following the main story. In this version of Skyrim, Dragons are dangerous but common, Alduin is nowhere here. Instead this will be following an Original story line that involves some of the side stories. **

It was near morning time, but the inside of the Breezehome had been darkened, with the only light being the cooking fire from the middle of the room. In the chair facing the fire was Romulus, dressed in lounging clothes, leg over the other. His expression was soft, staring into the fire while he dwelled in the memories of his past adventures.

**5 years ago **

Romulus, an Imperial man, had just defeated a Dragon. If the Dragon was not slain, then Whiterun would've been in grave danger. With the help us several brave Whiterun troops, and Jarl Bulgruuf's housecarl, Irileth, Romulus was able to drive a simple Iron sword through the head of the dragon. When he returned to Whiterun, the people had praised him, cheers from men women and children of many different races. He was now a local hero.

He went to Jarl Bulgruuf to report in, though Bulgruuf had seemingly already got the notion that the Dragon was slain.

"My friend," Bulgruuf said, standing up out of his seat, "You have done Whiterun a great deed by slaying that dragon."

"It was an honor serving you, Jarl," Romulus replied, slightly bowing to him. Bulgruuf had stepped down to see him face to face.

"The people of Whiterun are glad to have you on our side," Bulgruuf said, "but I have a debt I must pay in return." Romulus stayed silent, wanting to hear what it was to be offered. "I hear by give you the honorary title of Thane of Whiterun, few people have ever had this title." Romulus smirked; he was now an honorary Thane.

"I'm honored, my jarl," Romulus said.

"I also present to you, the axe of Whiterun," Bulgruuf said, handing him a professionally designed beauty of an axe. Its handle was marked with carved pictures that were so perfectly done, it may have been crafted by the best artist in Tamriel. Romulus took it with diligence, trying to honor the craftsmanship.

"Thank you," Romulus said.

"I will also assign you a guardian and housecarl, shall you ever decide to purchase a home here in Whiterun." Bulgruuf said, stepping aside for Romulus to catch view of his new companion. "I introduce to you, Lydia."

Romulus smiled when he saw her, approach him. She was a Nordic woman who looked to be in her late 20's, wearing a set of light steel and hide armor that had perfectly hugged her feminine figure. Her face was beautiful, her eyes bringing out her hidden warrior, but her lips perfectly shaped for a lady. Her hair was a luscious color of brown, with a single braid running down the left side of her face, which only seemed to add to her shine.

She bowed to greet him.

"It's an honor to serve you, my Thane," she said, looking up from her bow. "I am sworn to protect you with my life, and to carry your burdens." Her voice was perfect; his heart almost melted. Romulus decided to act of less authority and more friendly.

"Just call me Romulus," he said, Lydia hesitantly shaking his hand. Lydia has never been greeted this way before, an actual nice gentleman.

"_And rather handsome too" _she thought.

"It's nice to meet you, Lydia," Romulus said, "I look forward to doing business with you."

"Are all you Imperials this polite?" She asked, rather informally. Romulus smiled again.

"Most of the time."

A knock on the door had interrupted his thoughts. He opened up the door to see a gruff man, shoulder length hair, a scarred face, sleeveless black armor.

"Cedric," Romulus said, "what brings you here?" The said man, Cedric, crossed his arms.

"Master Milihan has requested your presence," Cedric said, "he said it had to do with the new recruit." Romulus put a serious look on his face, knowing that this was important.

Romulus, dressed in black steel sleeveless armor, had approached behind his Master Milihan, who was a slouching old man, possibly shrinking in size due to his age. His eyes squinted; his wrinkles defined his face, and his white balding hair that led down to his shoulders.

"Master Milihan," Romulus said, "you wanted to see me?" The old master had slowly turned around, his old age weighing him down.

"Ahh," his old gruff voice said, "Romulus, my son, I have something important to assign to you." Romulus stayed silent, wanting to hear what the master had to say about this new recruit.

"There is new blood amongst this family, Romulus," Milihan said, approaching him with the support of a cane. "Her name is Ayleth, she's very young and in need of enlightenment." Master Milihan looked over the balcony that over-looked the main guild hall, which worked like a cafeteria. Dozens of members were going about business, laughing and talking about their past jobs, drinking Nord Meed, eating a meal, sitting by the fire; one young girl sat alone, the girl that Master Milihan pointed to.

"She's half Nord, half imperial," Milihan said. Romulus stiffened at the irony.

"What do you need me to do, my master?" Romulus said, looking down at her.

"I want you to take her in as your companion, to teach her in the field," Milihan replied. Romulus turned his head toward him, a surprised look on his face.

"Master Milihan…" Romulus objected, but was silenced by Milihan holding his hand up.

"I know of your past, my son," Milihan said, "Let this be your redemption, to exercise the ghost of your last companion." Romulus hung his head low.

"She was more than just my companion…" Romulus muttered.

"I aim to make this beneficial not just for her, but for you too," Milihan faced Romulus. "If you are to find true peace, you must sculpt peace for yourself."

**Kind of a short chapter, really short chapter, compared to the last one. This is gonna be my occasional structure, with a sequence from both the past and the present. Review and like if you liked it, and have a nice day. **


	3. Chapter 3

**To He-Who-Laughs-At-His-Own-Jokes, thank you for your feedback. I'd like to point out that this is mostly in 3****rd**** person omniscient (which is an English term for 3****rd**** person being told through the perspective of multiple characters.) But I do agree with you, most professionally written stories are through the eyes of one character. I think I do it like this because 3****rd**** person omniscient helps me develop each character a lot more than 3****rd**** person singular (which mostly only helps me focus on the development of the main character.) **

_Solitude _

"Remind me, why am I joining the Legion again?" Lydia asked Romulus, as they briskly walked through the streets of Solitude.

"In case you haven't heard, Skyrim's in the middle of a civil war," Romulus replied "It is necessary that I take part in this, and as my companion, you must join too." Lydia didn't like being forced to fight her own race, but she knew that she had to follow his orders now that he is her thane, or her honor would be lost.

"Well ok then," she said, "and what about you?"

"I'm already with the Legion," Romulus said, "I'm an Imperial from Cyrodiil, I enlisted as an Auxiliary when I was sixteen. I've been through six months of basic training, and moved onto advanced training for two years, then was recommended for four years of Elite training. Only a few handpicked men are worthy for that course."

"Did you take it?" Lydia asked. Romulus nodded.

"I did," he answered, "Because of that, I am now a master of the sword and bow."

"I guess I'll be learning from one of the best," Lydia smiled. Romulus acknowledged her, as they walked into the training yard of the Legion. In the middle stood a tall light brown haired Nord in heavy legionnaire armor, who noticed Romulus walk in with a new companion.

"Romulus," he called out walking up to him, "my friend."

"Hadvar," Romulus said, taking his hand in a shake, "It's been a long time, how have you been?"

"Not easy knowing there's a war going on here in Skyrim," Hadvar replied, "I suppose you're here for your new orders from General Tullius." Hadvar noticed Romulus' companion, standing a few feet away, watching them converse. "And who's the pretty lady?" he asked, rather loudly. Lydia frowned and crossed her arms, glaring at him.

"Uhh... that's Lydia, she's my housecarl and companion," Romulus answered, awkwardly. "We're here to enlist her to get her to join the fight."

"Ahh good," Hadvar said, then turned his attention to Lydia. "You should be grateful to be fighting on the side of a man such as Romulus, you can learn a lot from him." Lydia nodded, but in a way to show that she didn't care much for his word. Romulus and Hadvar started to take a slow easy walk, with Lydia following far behind.

"So how's Skyrim been treating you?" Hadvar asked, "I heard a dragon attacked your convoy of reinforcements on the way here."

"I made it out alive," Romulus said, "I made my way to Riverwood to see your uncle, and he sent me to Whiterun to inform the Jarl about the Dragon attack."

"And what of the Dragon?" Hadvar asked.

"I defeated it, with the help of a team of course," Romulus answered.

"You are much stronger and braver than I thought," Hadvar said surprised of his friend's unbelievable accomplishments. "The empire is grateful to have you as her soldier, and I'm grateful to have you as a friend." Romulus smiled, as they stopped to face each other.

"I'll see you in battle, brother," Romulus said.

"As I will you, brother," Hadvar said as he shook his hand and walked off. Lydia walked up beside Romulus.

"How long have you known each other?" Lydia asked.

"A long time," Romulus replied, "Come on, we don't have much time to lose." A little bit later, Romulus appeared with Lydia in the war room, with General Tullius and Legate Rikke.

"General Tullius, sir," Romulus stood firm and crossed his arm over his chest (**Just a way I thought they would salute**)

"Tribune Romulus, I've heard stories about your service in Cyrodiil," Tullius said, turning to him. "It's not very often we have an Elite legionnaire stationed here in Skyrim." Legate Rikke came up to him.

"Are you the only survivor of the dragon attack, Tribune?" Rikke asked, Romulus putting his arm back to his side.

"Yes," he answered.

"And what about the dragon?" Tullius said.

"Dead, with the help of some troops from Whiterun," Tullius nodded in approval.

"Perhaps the stories I heard about you were true," Tullius said, then noticed Lydia standing behind the Tribune. "Who's this?"

"This is Lydia, we're here to enlist her into the Legion," Romulus said. Rikke and Tullius looked at each other and pondered.

"General, with the Legion of reinforcements from Cyrodiil gone, we need all the help we can get," Rikke explained. General Tullius nodded.

"And I agree with you, Legate," Tullius turned to Lydia, "Given the time, we cannot assign you to basic training. However, we have a different training for you, and that's to get right into the action." Tullius stood by his map and pointed to a position that stood west from where they currently were. "This is Fort Hraggstad, only several clicks away from Solitude. Bandits and mercenaries working with the Stormcloaks have captured it, and we need it back if we are to ensure the safety of the citizens here in Solitude. I have dispatched several units of legionaries and are waiting by the fort."

"General," Romulus said, pulling his salute to the General, Lydia hesitant in copying him considering that she's new to this. Romulus and Lydia turned to head off.

"And Tribune," Tullius called to him; Romulus turned around to see what he had to say. "I'm also giving you this chance to prove yourself; you will be leading the men into battle." Romulus took a deep breath and saluted him again.

"Sir," Romulus then walked off with Lydia following behind him.

* * *

Romulus walked up to the girl in black armor, who was sitting down at the wooden table, who was being bothered by a Khajiit that was balancing it's leg on the table, leaning close to try and hit on her.

"There's plenty of room in my cabin if you'd like to come and 'see it'," the Khajiit said in its creepy accent.

"Umm…" the girl, Ayleth, let out nervously, obviously creeped out by the Khajiit. Romulus came from behind and pulled the Khajiit away from her.

"Hey!" the Khajiit yelled, "what's the big idea…" the Khajiit suddenly stopped and gulped at the site of the man who was glaring him down while holding him by the armor collar. "Uhh…Romulus, I was just uhh…greeting the new girl!" Romulus let go of the Khajiit; the Khajiit backing off slowly.

"Find a job to do," Romulus said, "You haven't worked in months."

"Yeah okay, whatever you say," the Khajiit said before stiffly walking off. Romulus turned to meet the girl at her eyes. Her hair was brown, her skin was light, and her eyes were blue, and she was clearly shorter than him, by at least ten inches. She is only eighteen after all.

"Wait…Romulus, I've heard than name before," the girl said, her voice clearly showing her young age and naivety. "Are you THE Romulus? Champion of the Imperial Legion of Skyrim? Thane of Whiterun?"

"Your evaluation will start now," Romulus said, disregarding the ecstatic questions asked by Ayleth, "come on."

**Next chapter will synchronize the two scenarios of both Lydia and Ayleth going on their first mission with Romulus. **


	4. Chapter 4

Romulus had walked up to Lydia, who was getting herself prepped and ready.

"I hope you're ready for this," he said. Lydia looked up at him.

"I've been through worse," she replied. Together, they both walked to the group of fifty imperial soldiers who were standing in position. Lydia joined the back of the group while Romulus strode to the front. He turned to face his men, all of them looking at him.

"We are about to advance on the Stormcloak fort of Hraggstad. Stay in formation and keep your shield up and you are sure to return home in one piece," Romulus stepped down the line of men, looking each one of them in the eye. Romulus took his position to the right of the unit, his eyes trained on the sight of the fort, through the thin tree line.

"Advance!" He ordered, unsheathing his imperial sword and holding it above his shield; his men following his example. In their stance, they began to slowly advance on the gates, the enemies that are holding the walls were now scrambling to get their archers in position.

"ARCHERS!" Romulus barked at his second unit of archers. The legionary archers aimed and released a barrage of slinging arrows overhead the advancing imperial unit, plummeting into the Stormcloak line upon the walls. The enemies had struggled to regain formation and aimed their bows on them.

"Shields!" He yelled, and quickly his men formed a barrier with their shields around themselves, Lydia hesitantly following the lead. **(This formation was a Roman tactic known as the 'Testudo' or Tortoise) **

The arrow fire was proven ineffective, bouncing off the shield. The unit keeping this formation began to slowly move their way toward the gate. More Stormcloaks on the walls were dropping, and the arrow fire kept up, just as the legionaries reached the gate where it was blocked off by a barricade.

"Remove the barricade!" Romulus ordered, as several men from the first rank moved hastily to get the barricade out of the way. Several speedy arrows flew past the open gate, hitting a couple of the exposed auxiliaries that were attempting to move the barricade.

"Provide cover fire! Use your Pilas!" a couple of other auxiliaries took the place of the dead ones and continued moving the blockade, while the men behind them threw javelins overhead. Eventually, the men were able to drag the blockade off to the side.

"Break off, move inside," Romulus was the first to dive in, holding his shield up against the oncoming resistance at the gate, his men following close behind. Romulus was able to punch straight through the light resistance, same goes with his men as they had now made a mixing bowl of battle. As the men were fighting each other around them, the upper walls were now a bigger threat, and Romulus had to act. In the fighting he saw Lydia, who had just pulled her sword out of a female stormcloak.

"Lydia," Romulus yelled, "come with me, we need to clear out the top!" Lydia and a few other Auxiliaries who weren't pre-occupied fighting someone had followed. Just as they got to the stairwell, the Auxiliary running next to Romulus had just taken an arrow through his neck, falling down dead. Romulus looked up at the watchtower to see there were archers up-top.

"Go! Keep moving!" He yelled, running up the stairway. He met some resistance at the top of the stairs; two men who were armed with battleaxes, but nothing he couldn't handle. One of them swung at him, but Romulus deflected the attack with his shield, then shanking him through the stomach; Lydia taking care of the other by slicing her opponent's right leg off. They continued moving, slicing through the remaining resistance on the walls, occasionally an arrow from the Stormcloak held watchtower would hit one of the Auxiliaries following Romulus, or hit one of their own. Romulus had cut through enough resistance to make it to the doorway of the watchtower, holding his shield up to prevent any arrows from striking him above; same with Lydia. The two ran up the spiral staircase, to the top where Romulus had sliced away a stormcloak in their way.

The archers were two pre-occupied shooting down at the battle, allowing for Romulus to charge up behind one and kick him off the edge, plummeting to his death. Romulus snapped back to the other archers who were alerted by him now, yet hesitant, making it easy for Romulus to throat slice another one. Lydia had engaged herself with two other Stormcloaks, struggling to stay on her feet. Romulus had sliced the throat of another stormcloak, and looked over to see Lydia trip over a hole in the stone ground. Romulus acted quickly, jumping at his next opponent and cutting through the back of the Stormcloaks neck. The other stormcloak had attempted to down at the grounded Lydia, only to get his hand sliced off to a bloody stump.

"AHH!" He yelled, before being impaled from the back, the sword tip popping out of his chest. The stormcloak falling to the ground dead, Romulus had temporarily sheathed his weapon to lend a hand to Lydia. She took his hand, and he lifted her off the ground.

"You need to be more careful, Lydia," Romulus said to her, before pulling out his sword and jogging off back into the fight. Lydia shook her head, feeling dis-oriented from the fall. She had just been saved by Romulus, but why? She was the one that was supposed to be saving him? She IS his guardian; but she had never been involved in serious tactical combat before. It was all confusing her; the number of enemies and soldiers around her, the intense feeling of dying at any moment. She was used to fighting one on one, usually sparring or fighting animals and bandits. But THIS was something different. She was thankful that Romulus had saved her at that moment, but was despising him for bringing her into a mess that she didn't even support anyway.

Getting her senses back, she jogged after him back down the stairs. By the time she reached the bottom the battle had already been won; the ground filled with Stormcloak and Imperial bodies, the remaining Imperial soldiers had gathered back in formation, holding their swords up above their shields as before.

"We're clear," Romulus said, his men lowering their weapon and loosening up, relieved that they made it through to hear the sounds of nature again, and not the fighting.

"Count our dead, and bury them. The Stormcloaks…gather them up and burn them," Romulus ordered, his men moving at his command. Lydia heard his order and had to speak up against it.

"Romulus," she spoke, walking up to him "they deserve a proper funeral, not a disposal." She said in reference to his orders to burn the Stormcloak soldiers in piles; it wasn't merely just burning them, burning individual bodies is part of a Nord's funeral, but burning them in piles wasn't right.

"For what reason?" Romulus raised his voice, "they are the enemy, and there's no pity in their death."

"It's just," Lydia stopped to think, the thoughts running through her fast, "They were Nords we just killed, and I'm a Nord… it doesn't feel right to dishonor them like that, enemy or not." Romulus leaned closer to her, staring her right in the eyes with an angry glare.

"Take a look at the men," Lydia hesitantly averted from his gaze and looked over at the men who were cleaning up the bodies. She could make out that there were a lot who were tall or heavily built a lot like the Nord's characteristics. "THEY are Nord's," Romulus muttered at her, only for her to hear, "and this is war."

Romulus turned from her, walking off through the battlefield. "Send a message to General Tullius, tell him what happened." She could hear him say. Lydia watched him go off, and looked down in shame of her actions. What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

Romulus and Ayleth were walking up a path, mostly in an awkward silence. Romulus was in his usual black armor, but since this was no stealth mission, he had ditched the hood and mask. Ayleth was occasionally looking over at him, wondering things about him. It wasn't long till she finally decided to speak up.

"So you are THE Romulus, right?" Ayleth repeated the question from before. Romulus didn't answer, just kept his straight face and walked straight on ahead. "I've heard stories about you. My dad told me he served under you at one point." Ayleth said, getting closer to him in excitement. "He said you are like the spawn of Talos himself!" She said. Romulus scoffed internally, thinking about her parents; her dad must've been the Nord, and how he met an Imperial woman didn't make sense to him. Her talk of Talos didn't faze him, he didn't believe in the Norse gods.

She kept rambling on about different thing until he stopped her.

"This is it," he said.

"What?" Ayleth asked, confused. She looked in the direction he was facing to see a carriage parked off to the side of the road. "Approach the carriage alone, and I'll be covering you." Romulus said jogging off to take cover behind a rock. This left Ayleth confused, why was he doing this? She decided to just follow his orders.

She approached the carriage, and out came several bandits. One of them was Nord, Breton, and an Orc. The Breton approached her slowly.

"Sorry lady, but in order to get through this road, you need to pay a tax," he said, "one thousand gold, pay up or turn back."

Ayleth was left clueless; she was outnumbered by three guys who would obviously overpower her. Thinking about Romulus, she thought of what someone like him would do. She reached to unsheathe her sword, but her hand slipped, alerting the three bandits. They each pulled their weapons and jumped at the unready girl.

Out of nowhere, and arrow had cut through the Bretons neck, breaking clean through the spinal cord. He fell down dead, distracting the Nord and Orc in time for Ayleth to grab a hold of her weapon. She quickly swung and made a cut in the Nord's leg, making him fall on his back. She attempted to strike the Orc, but it was blocked, causing her to lose her balance. She was pushed back a little, but recovered in time to dodge one of the Orc's attacks. She jumped back to her feet, dodging each of the Orc's attacks, until she tripped over a rock and splashed into a pond. She looked up at the Orc, who had his weapon over his, readying to strike a vicious blow to her.

Suddenly, the bloody end of a blade had just came through the Orc's chest; Ayleth watched as the wielder of the blade had lifted the Orc over his head and forcefully smashed the body onto the rocky road. The blade wielder, Romulus, turned to face Ayleth who was looking up at him from the puddle. She was expecting him to help her up, but a couple seconds had passed and she got up herself. Romulus eyed her then turned his attention to the wounded Nord who was holding his leg on the ground.

They walked over to him, their shadows covering his body.

"You made him like this," Romulus said, "Finish him." Ayleth looked at him in disbelief. She didn't know if she could do this.

"But…" Ayleth let out, "he's beaten."

"DO IT!" He yelled, Ayleth wincing at his new tone. She slowly lifted her sword to strike down at him, but after holding the sword in the same position for some time, she lowered it.

"I can't," Ayleth looked down in shame, "he's helpless." Suddenly she shot her head up to see Romulus run his hand over the Nord's mouth and thrusted the blade through his throat, coming out the back of his neck. The Nord's muffled chokes and gags could be heard, making Ayleth look away and wince. Once he was silenced, she looked up at Romulus to see his face close to hers, glaring at her with anger.

"Why are you even here?" he muttered, obviously a rhetorical question. She stayed silent; no answer would justify her action. He stepped away from her, and began heading back, not at all waiting up for her to recover.

Ayleth was scared and confused; this was not at all the man that her father said he was.


	5. Chapter 5

**This and the next couple of chapters are gonna be purely in the past, following Romulus and his struggles as a Legate in the Imperial Legion. If anybody ****is wondering, I named Romulus after the founder of Rome.**

* * *

Romulus and Lydia had walked into the room where Tullius and Rikke were.

"General," Romulus said, pulling his arm up to his chest to salute him, Lydia doing the same.

"Tribune Romulus," Tullius walked up to him, "Excellent work at Hraggstad, your leadership knows no boundaries." Legate Rikke had come up to Romulus and handed him a steel helmet, an officers steel helmet, one that had a red plume that ran down through the top of the helmet. "I am hereby promoting you to Legate, and will be assigning you to take command of the thirteenth legion." Romulus took the helmet, and held it under his armpit. Legate Rikke turned to the Auxiliary Lydia.

"About you, Auxiliary," Rikke said, "you passed your evaluation, welcome to the legion." Lydia keeping a straight face, nodded; she was not fine on the inside. "You should go and see about getting yourself outfitted."

"General," Romulus said, "when will I receive my new orders?"

"Right now in fact," Tullius replied, "We have reason to believe that Ulfric Stormcloak is planning an attack on Whiterun. Jarl Bulgruuf has given us permission to garrison the city. I am sending your legion, the eleventh and twelfth legions down before the attack begins."

"General," Romulus acknowledged Tullius, saluting him and walking off.

"And as for you Auxiliary Lydia," Tullius turned to her, "I will be assigning you to the thirteenth legion, under your companion, Legate Romulus." Lydia saluted him, not saying a word, and turned off.

When Romulus was outside, he met up with Hadvar, who noticed the imperial officer's helmet that he was carrying under his arm.

"Ahh, I see you've been promoted to Legate, which legion will you be commanding now?" Hadvar asked.

"The Thirteenth," Romulus replied. Hadvar chuckled.

"What a coincidence, I happen to be assigned under the thirteenth legion," Hadvar said, a smile on his face.

"At least we will now be able to fight alongside each other," Romulus said.

"You don't want to know what happened to the last Legate who was in charge of the thirteenth," Hadvar said. This left Romulus to question.

"What happened to him?" Romulus asked, curiously.

"The last thirteenth legion was defeated by Nordic Barbarians over in Eastmarch just two weeks ago," Hadvar explained, "The Legate was brutally executed and made an example of, and I believe his head is still being hung out in Windhelm." Romulus cringed but was curious about the Nordic Barbarians that he's never heard of.

"Nordic Barbarians? "Romulus asked him, "What are they?"

"Only the bad blood that is giving the rest of us Nords a bad name, psychopathic blood thirsty murderers they are."

They noticed Lydia coming up behind them, in her arm was a set of studded imperial armor, with a leather helmet and such.

"Lydia," Romulus said, "what legion are you assigned under?"

"The thirteenth," Lydia replied, "under your command."

"It seems like we all will be fighting on each other's side," Hadvar said, "But going to professional matters, what are our new orders, Legate?"

"We'll be marching to Whiterun by tomorrow," Romulus replied, "Intel says that the Stormcloaks are planning an attack."

The next morning, dawn was breaking. The three legions of imperial soldiers we're gathered outside of Solitude, in formation on the road. Romulus was walking past the ready units, dressed in his imperial officer's uniform. At the front of the formations, he saw two more Legates conversing with each other, and decided to approach them. The two Legates turned, one of them Imperial.

"Legate," they all greeted each other with an imperials salute. The Imperial Legate talked first.

"I'm Quentin Cipius, Legate of the eleventh legion," he said.

"I'm Adventus Caesennius, of the twelfth legion," he said.

"Romulus Decimus, thirteenth," he said as well.

"I've heard some good things about you Romulus," Quentin said, "hopefully with someone like you we can make it through this."

"The past several months have been a losing fight, with the barbarian tribes now fighting for the Stormcloaks," Adventus said. "Our lines have been pushed back to Whiterun."

"And we won't be able to make it if we don't hold Whiterun," a voice out of nowhere came.

"Ralof," Quentin greeted, "Legate Romulus, this is Ralof; he leads a mercenary cavalry unit that will be riding with us." Romulus took Ralof's hand in a shake.

"Pleasured to make your acquaintance, Ralof," Romulus said.

"We should get moving," Ralof said, taking his hand away from Romulus.

"Right," Quentin acknowledged, "Auxiliaries, we're moving out in 5 minutes."

Romulus was putting on his helmet, and noticed that Ralof had went over to the very back where his legion was. He was talking to Hadvar

* * *

A little while later, the legions were moving in formation through a thick forest. Legate Quentin and his eleventh legion were the head of the group, Adventus in the middle and Romulus tailing. So far they were nearly half-way to Whiterun; the trip was a very calm march.

_No dragons today I guess. _Several minutes of marching later, they were beginning to hear shuffling in the trees. Romulus shot his eyes around; the sounds were coming from everywhere. Maybe it was some wolves or sabre cats, nothing that an auxiliary couldn't handle. As Romulus was looking around, he noticed that Ralof's mercenary cavalry unit that was following behind was not there anymore. He turned his horse around and rode off to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of any sign of Ralof.

"Where are Ralof and his cavalry?" Romulus asked his men out loud, though none of them answered and kept looking straight forward. Romulus turned his horse around rode past the other leading legions to where he reached Legate Quentin.

"Legate Quentin," Romulus said approaching, "Ralof and his cavalry are missing." Quentin turned his head and raised a brow.

"What do you mean they're missing?" Quentin replied, his voice rose at the surprising news.

"I mean they are nowhere in sight," Romulus said, before hearing roaring in the distance. They were looking around in all directions, their horses going around in circles as the roaring grew louder. "That doesn't sound like a dragon."

"Legate Romulus, return to your thirteenth," Quentin said turning to him, "I think we have a serious threat emerging." Romulus nodded, and then quickly rode back to his thirteenth. The moment he returned, the roaring grew closer and turned into something more of a chant. Hundreds, maybe thousands of voices were yelling the chant, and the rumble of a thousand footsteps grew closer.

"Make ready!" Romulus yelled, drawing his sword. The auxiliaries followed, drawing their swords and readying in the defensive position. The chanting was coming from all sides, the men turning their heads quickly left to right. Over the noise, Romulus could hear Hadvar speak to him.

"It's ancient Nordic chanter," Hadvar said loudly so Romulus could hear, "That only means one thing…"

"Barbarians!" One of the auxiliaries yelled, fear gripping his voice. Some of the other Auxiliaries staggered in place, knowing the horrors to come if they found defeat. Lydia however, she stood there with her only intent on survival.

The ground shook, and suddenly great rolling blocks of fire came rolling down the side of the hills, taking the auxiliaries by surprise. The rolling blocks barreled at them, and the Auxiliaries broke formation to desperately dive out of the way. Once the blocks were stopped, the units were left at a disadvantage if the barbarians were to attack now.

"Steady!" Romulus yelled, his horse neighing and kicking itself up onto its hind hooves. Two arrows had hit the horse, and down it went, dragging Romulus down with them. Struggling to get his leg out from under his now dead horse, Romulus could see the figures of beastly large men and women covered in bear pelts and war paint charge down at the unorganized legion from both sides, completely surrounding them.

Romulus could hear Legate Adventus barking orders to regain formation. Eventually, Romulus was able to free himself and get back on his feet, not until he was tackled down by a seemingly brute nord woman. Now lying on his back, he saw the Nord woman on top of him, raising an iron war axe to strike down. When she descended her blade, Romulus was able to catch her wrist, stopping her attack, and used his free hand to deliver a quick punch to her nose. The counter-attack dazed her, allowing Romulus to kick her off and get back on his feet, sword in hand. The nord woman swung back around, holding her now bleeding nose with a look of fire in her eyes, the war paint making her look more fierce. She yelled as she charged back at him, only for Romulus to dodge the attack and slice her throat from behind.

Romulus then took his attention away from the defeated barbarian to look at his surroundings. Everything went to Oblivion; the legions have lost control of formation and were getting hammered, and more and more Barbarians were coming. Romulus knew that the only way they could win this phase is if they hold out long enough to regain formation.

Quickly he took his Imperial shield off the side of his dead horse and raised it ready to fight. Swiftly killing off several barbarians that jumped after him, Romulus dove into the mosh pit to kill off enough barbarians hoping to give his Auxiliaries some breathing room to regain formation.

"Regain formation!" Romulus yelled, "Regain formation!" Lucky enough, they were able to give themselves some room to regain the standard formation, same with his other units. After putting up a huge but costly fight, the Nord Barbarians that were attacking the end where Romulus' 13th legion had finally backed off for the moment; the engagement from the front and center were still in effect. Romulus knew that the Nords from the back side would return any moment, and the only way they could make it through this battle is if they kept up their advance.

"Units, advance forth!" Romulus ordered, "We have to lend support to the front and center if we are to advance." Romulus moved in unison with the group that he had joined in, diving straight into the backs of the enemy. As quickly as they struck, the barbarians attacking the twelfth were routed, relieving the center. The center did the same, lending support to the eleventh. Eventually they were able to fend off the first wave of attackers.

"Legate Romulus!" an Auxiliary came running down. "Legate Quentin is down!" Romulus wiped the sweat off of his face, and turned to his legion, who were now almost half the force they were.

"We need to keep advancing, and make clear of this forest," Romulus said. He noticed more and more chanter and yelling coming from the trees that were just around them.

"Change of plans," Romulus said to the Auxiliary, "make sure Adventus keeps the eleventh and twelfth moving and we'll stay behind to try and buy you some time."

"Yes sir," the Auxiliary acknowledged before running off. Romulus felt a hand tug at his shoulder pad, and saw it was Lydia.

"Do you have some sort of Deathwish!?" Lydia yelled in his face, an angry glare coming from her.

"Lydia, get back in formation," Romulus ordered, keeping a straight face. Lydia kept on yelling at him.

"Your little tactic is going to get every last one of us killed!"

"That's how an Imperial soldier earns his honor," Romulus said, getting closer to her, "by laying down his life for another." Lydia kept the angry glare but slowly backed off from him. "Now get back in formation."

The chanting and the battle cries were growing closer, and the thirteenth legion created a wall that divided the barbarians from the rest of the fleeing legions. As they saw the barbarians charging in from all sides, they struck their defensive stance in unison.

"It's been an honor fighting with you, my friend," Hadvar said, who was conveniently next to Romulus as they were the first rank of the defending imperial line. The barbarian line eventually smashed into the Imperial line, the sounds of swords clanking shields, men toppling over each other, and a fierce struggle.

Romulus and Hadvar used all their might to push back the overly powerful barbarians that were pushing, shoving, and often jumping over their defense, creating a mosh of mixed soldiers. Even after killing several barbarians, Romulus was eventually knocked down into the crowd.

When he got up, he looked around to see that his men had lost formation, getting slaughtered from left and right. It was over, he knew they couldn't win this; at least their defeat wouldn't be in vain. As he kneeled there, he saw a Barbarian male run up to his with a war axe, and was about to strike down on him. The attack was stopped by an imperial sword coming out of his chest, and him falling out of the way. It was Hadvar, with Lydia next to him, looking off to the side and covering his back.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," Hadvar said, lending a hand. Romulus didn't hesitate and was lifted back up to his feet. The three began to make their way past the crowd of Imperials and barbarians, up until Hadvar suddenly stopped and stared off in shock and anger. Through the thick, he saw the mercenary Ralof cut down an Imperial soldier.

"RALOF!" Hadvar yelled, "YOU DAMN TRAITOR!" Ralof looked up to see Hadvar staring him down with hatred in his eyes.

"This is for the best!" Ralof called back, "THE NORDS WILL BE FREE!" Hadvar roared and charged at him, no holding back.

"Hadvar!" Romulus called out to him, going after him. Hadvar's charge was halted when a blade from another barbarian had slashed his upper left leg, sending him falling to the ground. Before the barbarian could finish him off, Romulus put an imperial sword through his back, and pushed him away. He and Lydia started helping him up; Ralof wasn't where he was anymore, so there was no point in trying to seek revenge. Putting his arms around their necks, Romulus and Lydia pulled Hadvar out of the mess and eventually made it to safety in a secluded part of the forest.

* * *

**I actually based this certain battle off of the historical battle of Teutoberg Forest. I just felt like it was fitting, and I generally write my stuff inspired by other things. **


End file.
